Successful Co-Writing: the Who with the What Now?

[lunabee34]

I've been wondering for some time now how those of you who co-author fics negotiate doing so. It seems to me that writing with another person is potentially an incredibly rewarding experience but also one that can be fraught with tension. The only time I attempted to co-write a fic was roughly two years ago, and while the experience was very positive and a lot of fun, the fic was ultimately abandoned when we both had different visions for the project.

In the interest of full disclosure, my musing is prompted by an unfinished fic currently sitting on my hard drive. I'd love for someone to write it with me, but I'm unsure how the actual writing would proceed. Does one person do most of the actual writing, while the second person contributes heavily in the outlining, plotting, and revision/expansion stages (which seems the most workable model to me)? Do both people write equally, maybe taking turns every page or so (which seems much more difficult to me as even two very good writers will differ in terms of style)?

If you have written with another person and feel that the experience was a positive one, please share with me your tips on co-writing. And I'm maybe kinda putting out feelers to the hard-core flisters here about collaborating with me on something. Maybe. LOL

Comments

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, this is really interesting.

It seems that the key for you guys is really being in constant communication the whole time. It sounds like you don't go off and write and then present the ideas to each other; you are communicating for most of the time as you're actually writing. Is that right?

[tabaqui]

Yup, exactly. We're always bouncing ideas off each other, making sure the story is going where we want it to go, that kind of thing. It really works well for us. Everything we've written has been this way, and i personally think it's a compliment when someone says they can't tell what part i wrote and what part Reremouse wrote.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

I certainly think that your collaborations with her read seamlessly. There's no stylistic breaks, which I think is pretty awesome.

[trekgirl55.livejournal.com]

I was actually going to suggest something similar to what tabaqui brought to the table. I've been working in a similar fashion on a couple of different projects and it has been an extremely fun and rewarding experience.

Currently I am working with my friend Cait on a series of X-Files adventures some of which are the most cracktastically funny things I have ever written and also with a very good friend on an epic Xenafic. Like 400 plus pages epic. lol

Anyway before we start a new story or chapter we briefly discuss and outline what we want to happen. Then we work together via messenger to flesh out the idea and merge our two visions into one. There is a lot of give and take and just plain free forming, but I find that kind of stimulating when I have to think on my feet.

Also, we each have a character which we write predominately, but we keep each other honest on characterization and such.

And as tabaqui said it takes a little while at first to adjust to working with someone else and get used to their quirks and style.

Good luck with the project! I would love to see the results. :)

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

It sounds like a lot of people use this model actually.

I don't know if I'll actually collaborate with anyone on this but I think I've gotten rid of my writer's block in any case.